Travel tips-Restaurant reviews-Recipes
I’m generally a fan of the minimalist approach to risottos: just one or two main ingredients that are allowed to shine with the rice. And, of course, the rice must be a good risotto rice that will give that essential creaminess, such as arborio or vialone nano. However, when I was in Venice recently, I […]
Read MoreLeeks are in season – they’re available and best eaten November until April – but the ones I’ve seen in the supermarket have been so ridiculously expensive, I haven’t been able to bring myself to buy any. What on earth is this all about? Once £4.99 for 3 large leeks. But then I saw a nice […]
Read MoreIt’s been a long time since I’ve had to think about cooking regular family meals but with Jonathan and Lyndsey staying with me at the moment, I’ve had to take my turn and come up with something reasonably easy and inexpensive for midweek supper. And something that also contains or is served with meat. While Lyndsey […]
Read MoreI love beetroot and it’s such a gorgeous earthy warming vegetable for this time of the year. Though it does also make a wonderful salad, used fresh and raw, such as my Sensational Antioxidant Salad; or as a dip, like my Roasted Beetroot, Tahini & Orange Dip and of course soup. There’s barely a soup as […]
Read MoreOK. I might be overdoing the pearl barley cooking and soon I shall turn into a light-brown grain. But after the lovely Josephine at My Home Food That’s Amore asked if my Barley Risotto yesterday was an orzotto, I thought I’d better do some research. Pearl barley to me is my mother putting some in a […]
Read MoreNo, dear Italian friends, this is not an Italian risotto and please forgive the use of the word ‘risotto’, but Ottolenghi uses it in his wonderful book Jerusalem from which I took this recipe. (Though it has to be said, it’s not quite his recipe, as you shall see.) I’ve learned that Italians are very correct when […]
Read MoreI’m going to have to introduce a separate ‘risotto’ category soon – but I really do make risotto a lot. I’ve had a really busy day but to stand by my cooker, slowly pouring hot stock into the rice in a pan and gently stirring with, it must be admitted, a glass of wine to […]
Read MoreI cook risotto a lot. It’s an ideal meal for one but will easily multiply to feed more – I used to make them a lot for a family meal – 3 to 4 of us. However, I wouldn’t cook one for lots of people. There’s nothing difficult about making a risotto, but timing is […]
Read More‘Risotto is such a simple and satisfactory dish’, wrote Elizabeth David in her Italian Food, first published in 1954. I imagine it was quite a rare dish to find in UK in those days whereas now it pops up on nearly every menu you’re likely to come across that crosses the Italian-fusion divide. Often it […]
Read MoreI love risotto and I can see I may need to introduce an entire ‘risotto’ category to the blog, but for the time being, this can be known as a ‘rice’ dish. (To find out more about the history of risotto, see my post: Fresh Tomato and Herb Risotto.) For me, risotto is soul food: […]
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